Team
Kristina Kironska
Head of Myanmar Studies Center
Kristina has led the Myanmar Studies Center since its establishment in May 2024. She is a socially engaged interdisciplinary academic, with experience in election observation, research, advocacy, and activism. She is an Assistant Professor at the Palacký University Olomouc and Co-Director of the think tank Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS). She specializes in international relations and human rights in Southeast and East Asia (with a special focus on Myanmar and Taiwan). She is the author of several books and articles on these topics (see: orcid.org/0000-0002-1761-4004), and serves as the Deputy Editor of the International Journal of China Studies (IJCS). She is fluent and articulate in eight languages.
Contact: kristina.kironska@upol.cz
Alfred Gerstl
Senior Research Fellow
Alfred Gerstl is head of EUVIP and Associate Professor at the Department of Asian Studies at Palacky University in Olomouc (Czech Republic). Furthermore, he is president of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), a transnational think tank. Alfred taught at various universities in Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Russia. He is an International Relations specialist with a focus on the Indo-Pacific, notably Southeast Asia including ASEAN, and especially interested in security cooperation (AUKUS, Quad), hedging strategies, the EU’s role in the region and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Contact: alfred.gerstl@upol.cz
Federica Cidale
Research Fellow
Federica Cidale is a PhD student in International relations and Asian studies at Palacký University Olomouc in the Czech Republic. Her work in the EUVIP project is focused on Myanmar, its society and its politics, with a particular emphasis on the most recent coup. Her research delves into the growing influence of cyber technology on international politics. Her main interests are Japan and its domestic politics, East Asian security, and ASEAN.
Contact: federica.cidale@upol.cz
Yu Mon Htay
Former Intern
Yu Mon Htay was an Erasmus student at Palacký University Olomouc (on a 5-month exchange scholarship since February 2024). A Myanmar national, she actively supports the Yadanabon Student Union at Mandalay Yadanabon University, where she was a Master of Science student in computer science. Yu Mon joined Myanmar's nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the coup of 2021. In 2022, she fled Myanmar and she moved across several Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, and Laos, before being granted the Erasmus exchange scholarship to the Czech Republic. Her current research focuses on the Chinese mafias along the Myanmar border.
Contact: htayyu00@upol.cz
Monika Verma
Research Fellow
Monika has joined the Myanmar Studies Center in September 2024. She is a MSCA CZ Postdoctoral Fellow at the Palacký University Olomouc. She earned her PhD. from the Institute of Social Research and Cultural Studies at the National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Her research focuses on refugees and forced migration, with a particular emphasis on the Rohingya. Monika’s work highlights the complex realities faced by displaced populations, aiming to foster understanding and promote meaningful change for marginalized communities. Her current research examines the securitization of migration in South Asia and its impact on Rohingya refugees. She has authored several articles in peer-reviewed journals (see full list: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1873-1851).
Contact: monika.verma@upol.cz